IX. The Metropolitan Tract (the original campus)

"In the years to come there are sure to be many expressions of
regret that this old "cradle" of the University of Washington was allowed
to be torn down and destroyed."

-- Edmond S. Meany, Metropolitan Bulletin ,
March 12, 1910

This photograph taken in 1909 shows
the old University Building on the right moved from its original
site to make way for the White Building (left) and the Henry
Building under construction.

The Old Campus

The University's new Law School was temporarily located in one of
the old university buildings and the main building was leased temporarily
to the Seattle Schools and then the Seattle Public Library. When
construction of commercial buildings began, the original building was
moved to a site along Fifth Avenue. All the buildings fell into disrepair
and were eventually torn down. Efforts by alumni led by Edmond Meany to
move the main building to the new campus were unsuccessful. It is shown
in the photograph reproduced in the 1910 Tyee (below) and in the
the 1909
photograph (above) showing the construction of the Henry Building. The
columns, which had been removed and stored when the building was moved,
were later erected on the campus.

Some, such as the author of an article in the April 1894 Pacific
Wave, advocated using the old University campus as a downtown park.
Although there was some interest on the part of the City of Seattle in
this proposal, it never received serious consideration from the Regents.

The old University Building in
1909

To Sell or Lease?

With the move of the University to the new site, the question of
what to do with the old campus was to occupy much of the Regents' time.
The Legislative acts of March 7, 1891, and March 14, 1893, had authorized
the Regents to sell the property to the highest bidder if the amount
offered equaled the appraised value. The funds realized were to be used
to make improvements at the new campus. With depressed economic times it
soon became apparent that it was better to wait until conditions
improved. However, the Regents soon realized that it would be more
valuable to lease instead of sell the old campus and on December 9, 1902,
the Regents formally adopted the "policy of leasing the old university
site in preference to selling." One strip of land on the northwest
corner of the site was sold in 1902 to the U.S. government for a federal
building. It was believed that the location of the federal building on
this site would enhance the value of the tract.

Initial efforts to lease were not successful. In 1902 the tract
was leased to the University Site Improvement Company, which began
construction on the Post-Intelligencer Building. This lease was
forfeited and a lease was granted James A. Moore on November 1, 1904.
The remaining 47 years of Moore's lease were transferred in 1907 to the
Metropolitan Building Company. Moore was the developer of the Moore
Theater and Hotel. He gave Capitol Hill its name (it reminded him of
Capitol Hill in Denver where he lived before moving to Seattle) and
developed the Brooklyn and University Heights Additions.

The Metropolitan Building Company

James Moore had completed construction of the PI Building and
Fourth Avenue had been cut through the old campus, but there had been no
further development of the University Tract when the Metropolitan
Building Company took over the lease in 1907. That company engaged the
New York architectural firm of Howells and Stokes, and with Stone and
Webster Engineering Corporation of Boston as contractors, began
constuction of their first building on the University Tract. That
building, named for Chester White, President of Company, was completed in
January 1909 on Fourth Avenue. Three other buildings soon followed on
Fourth Avenue, all named for shareholders in the Company: The Henry
Building, completed in September 1909 and named for Horace C. Henry,
donor of the Henry Art Gallery; the Cobb Building, completed in September
1910 and named for businessman C. H. Cobb; and the Stuart Building,
completed in January 1915 and named for E. A. Stuart, founder of the
Carnation Milk Products Company. The Metropolitan Theatre on University
Avenue was opened on October 2, 1911. All of these were considered
permanent buildings under terms of the lease, although only the Cobb
Building is still standing.

In addition to these permanent buildings, several temporary
buildings were erected under terms of an agreement with the Regents.
These buildings were to be removed in seven years, although this was
extended by five years under a subsequent agreement. Five of these
temporary buildings were erected in 1909. A portion of a page in the
1912 Seattle Baist's Real Estate Atlas shows the location of these
buildings in the University Tract.

Metropolitan Theatre

The Metropolitan Theatre opened on October 2, 1911. The opening
attraction was "Mr. Richard (Himself) Carle with Edna Wallace Hopper
(Specially Engaged) and A Notable Company in 'Jumping Jupiter'." The
souvenir booklet stated that "Seattle's newest and most beautiful
playhouse" was the "last word of modernity in theatrical construction,
and modernity today, means just one thing - comfort - comfort, coupled
with absolute safety." The theatre was on University Street and had
l,650 seats. The Olympic Hotel was later built around it. Helen Hayes
appeared in "What Every Woman Knows" in the last performance in the
theatre on December 4, 1954. The Metropolitan was torn down for a new
entrance to the hotel.

"City Within A City"

Promoters of the Metropolitan Development Company's project on
the site of the University's old campus conceived it as the business and
financial center of Seattle, "a city within a city." Just as the
University had been transformed in the two decades since the move of the
University to the Union Bay campus; so had the downtown campus--the
former from a small college to a university, the latter from a parklike
site to a commercial center. A 1927 photograph shows some of the
development on the old campus site. Although the photograph dates from
1927, the buildings in the center (White, Henry and Stuart) had been
built between 1908 and 1914. In the 1970s the buildings in this block
were torn down and replaced by Rainier Square.

This WEB exhibition is based on an exhibition prepared by the
University of Washington Libraries' Special Collections and Preservation
Division and shown on the Allen Library Exhibition Balcony from October
1995 to January 16, 1996. The exhibition curator is Gary L. Menges, with
assistance from Anne Cavender, Kathryn Leonard, and John Medlin, of the
Special Collections Staff. The WEB exhibition was done by Gary Menges
with assistance from Susan Kemp, John Medlin, and Theresa
Mudrock.

This exhibition is copyrighted by the University of Washington Libraries.
It may be used online or downloaded for personal use or the URL for the
exhibition included in another electronic document. Images in the
exhibition are scanned at 72dpi. For information on reproductions of the
images and use guidelines e-mail the Special Collections and Preservation
Division (speccoll@u.washington.edu).